Energy Majors Collaborate on Human Rights
The CEOs of BP, Equinor, Shell and Total have agreed to join forces on human rights in their supply chains.
The objective of the initiative is to create an industry framework for human rights supplier assessments. Results of conducted assessments will be shared with the participating companies through an independent third party. Work is currently ongoing to establish the assessment criteria and sharing mechanism.
The desired outcome is to make it easier and more efficient for suppliers to demonstrate how they respect human rights and care for their people. The sharing mechanism across the participating parties aims to support the improvement of working conditions in our companies’ supply chains.
The participating companies recognize the importance of working with suppliers that respect human rights, in line with the U.N. Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, including the fundamental conventions of the International Labour Organization. As members of the U.N. Global Compact, they say the initiative also supports the objectives of Sustainable Development Goal 8, which is to “promote sustained, inclusive and sustainable economic growth, full and productive employment and decent work for all.”
The initiative does not include collaboration on selection of suppliers, which continues to remain the independent decision of each participant.
The four companies are inviting other companies in the industry to join.
Separately, earlier this month, the U.K.-based charity Human Rights at Sea has published a fact sheet to help maritime businesses understand their business and human rights requirements.